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Sarah M. Clark

"She worked out, enjoyed fitness, walked with them in the morning and used them at the gym. They are now a part of the altar display along with her urn." -- John Milton Wesley, fiance

Profile:

Sarah M. Clark, 65, and her fiance had just decided to have their wedding reception at a yacht club in Baltimore. On Sunday, they went shopping for wedding bands. And Tuesday morning, they kissed, embraced and said, "I love you," to each other before she left their Columbia home for Dulles International Airport.

Clark, a sixth-grade teacher at Backus Middle School in the District, then boarded American Airlines Flight 77 to chaperon a group of children going to Santa Barbara, Calif., for an ecology conference sponsored by National Geographic. She had taught in D.C. public schools since 1965 and is survived by two children.

"Her engagement ring is still upstairs," her fiance, John Milton Wesley, said yesterday. "She didn't want to take it."

Clark received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Winston-Salem State University and a master's in urban learning from George Washington University. After he kissed her goodbye Tuesday, Wesley noticed that she had left her yellow jacket near the stairway.

"I ran out to give it to her," Wesley said. "But she had already gone."

-- Christian Davenport

Source: The Washington Post, AP and washingtonpost.com

The profiles in this feature were written in the months following Sept. 11, 2001.